1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for providing a user interface, peripheral devices, computer means, methods of providing a user interface, and programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Peripheral devices such as printers, fax machines, scanners and other devices are commonly provided with user interfaces (UIs) to allow users to input commands, data etc. When such devices are sold to companies and other organisations, there is often a desire for some customisation of the UI to meet the customer's requirements. Such customisation may vary from inclusion of the customer company's logo on panes of the UI to inclusion of different button layout, screen orders or customised fields to be included in panes of the UI. Such customisation can allow the device to more efficiently meet the customer's needs and intended usage requirements.
In many existing devices, the software of the UI is stored in a memory of the device that is to display the UI. Varying the UI therefore involves adjusting the software of the UI. However, varying the software and performing appropriate quality control tests tends to be time consuming, resulting in an undesirably long response time to customisation requests.
US 2003/0011633 discloses a system that dynamically provides a user interface on a Multi-Function Peripheral (MFP). The system includes an MFP and a server configured to provide information to the MFP. The system is arranged such that a first screen to be displayed on an interface of the MFP is sent from the server. As the user interacts with the displayed screen, information is sent back to the server and the server sends further information to the MFP controlling display of different screens and controlling operations of the MFP. Each screen of the interface of the MFP is sent separately by the server in response to user interactions.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing network traffic according to the apparatus shown in US 2003/0011633. In this diagram the downward pointing arrows designate information received at the MFP from the server and upward pointing arrows designate information sent from the MFP to the server. The passage of time is represented on the horizontal axis with later times being shown toward the right-hand side of the figure. As can be seen from the figure, the MFP regularly receives information from the server and sends information to the server as each page of the user interface is separately transmitted from the server and displayed.
The system described in US 2003/0011633 is flexible in that the screens to be displayed are sent in XML language. However, because a remote server controls the UI in real time, the UI is likely to be slow and is prone to delays due to network traffic.